Helpful library guides

Top Library Databases

Academic Search is a good all around database. It has a ton of academic sources. One can do a preliminary search on a topic to see what current research there is or what potential sources there are. Did you know? Adding "empirical research" (in Ebsco databases) as a subject term will limit results to articles with empirical research.

ProQuest Central has a lot of "Professor Approved" articles. One can find academic journals, news and magazine articles, encyclopedia articles and other resources in this database. If you need to see your topic from multiple perspectives, then ProQuest Central is the place to start. Need a quick and dirty search? Add the term "study" to your search and it will limit results to research studies, including empirical research.

This database is worth a look ... it offers current, peer-reviewed resources from top journals in the Social sciences. Researchers often cite journal articles that have empirical research. The hallmark of empirical research is original results. Avoid journal articles or studies that review research or literature. A quick way to narrow to empirical research is "case study" in advance search. Advance search is available in ProQuest and EBSCO databases.

Finding a topic?

Credo Reference is a "Professor Approved" alternative to Wikipedia. It has tons of encyclopedia articles that can help you understand your research topic! Credo Reference also offers journal article links to library databases like ProQuest and Ebsco. Note - Credo can only be accessed on-campus!

Encyclopedias are credible academic sources you can use at every stage of research. Get an overview of an unfamiliar topic, find a bibliography of important sources and gather more in-depth information. Go beyond Wikipedia start with academic databases from the library. Its a great place begin researching!